Magical Sakura Days in Kyoto, Japan

Published April 3, 2018

The cherry blossom season in Japan has made me realize how colorful and magical life can be. <3

Going to Japan in full-bloom cherry blossom season got me expecting a sea of crowd everywhere, especially in touristy Kyoto. Thankfully, I was able to find spots that were not the usual tourist destinations. I thought that spending 8 days in Japan hunting for cherry trees would bore me in the end, since they are all just the same trees after all, with slightly different shades of pink or sometimes white. I was wrong. While these sites were not all completely different from each other, they all had their own charm. My favorites were Haradani-en Garden that looked like an enchanted forest straight out of a fairytale, Nakaragi Path with darker-pink trees along the river and Kyoto Botanical Gardens with different kinds of flowers aside from cherry blossoms.

Looking at these photos give me a wave of bittersweet nostalgia. This trip was the best one yet, as I had the best memories here and, in such an extraordinary place with the best timing. I mean, full bloom cherry blossoms…. in Japan… That must have been the best in the world. I feel so lucky.